First, look back:

or, ITP – dig up old stuff

But first, a quote:

If only you’d remember before ever you sit down to write that you’ve been a reader long before you were ever a writer. You simply fix that fact in your mind, then sit very still and ask yourself, as a reader, what piece of writing in all the world Buddy Glass would most want to read if he had his heart’s choice. The next step is terrible, but so simple I can hardly believe it as I write it. You just sit down shamelessly and write the thing yourself. I won’t even underline that. It’s too important to be underlined. Oh, dare to do it, Buddy! Trust your heart. You’re a deserving craftsman. It would never betray you. Good night. I’m feeling very much over-excited now, and a little dramatic, but I think I’d give almost anything on earth to see you writing a something, an anything, a story, a poem, a tree, that was really and truly after your own heart.

- Seymour: An Introduction by JD Salinger.

And on to the items from the past?

Dug this up for Jen:

Title: Wishes Not Granted
Day/Theme: November 13. could you endure such pain at any hand but hers?
Series: Alichino
Character/Pairing: Myoubi, Ryouko, Matsulika
Rating: R

“46.”

Myoubi’s eyes flutter open as if waking from a dream. It is another death that she counts—one of Matsulika and the image of the woman whose face she wears still, suffering but another temporary death. The end that Myoubi yearns for, in part, has not come. The bond still holds them—Ryouko would endure wandering in a near-monotonous satire of his life, free to keep his mind and live forever as he pleases, yet determined to mete out his justice; and she would remain to relish the eternity of the instant that his existence has made for her. Despite everything, she finds herself pleased.

He didn’t call out for her, he didn’t need her then, but she felt that she wanted to be near him so there she is, flying to where he was. The distance between them seems too great.

She finds him at midnight, occupying a room at an inn found in a village by the sea. He is still awake, sitting by his bedside, lost in thought. She feels—what she imagines to be—the trembling of her heart. Ryouko is also beautiful this way, she thinks. Her body is fatigued from her long journey and her search for him who has not called for her, but she does not feel it. She is too lost in him. His presence has recuperated her.

Myoubi calls out his name.

His thoughts are broken and he finds her, standing there, waiting for him to call her. A mild hint of surprise is etched in his eyes, she catches the glimpse of it.

“Will you not call out for me?” she asks him.

“You shouldn’t have come,” he replies.

“And yet I am here. Call out my name.”

“Myoubi,” he beckons her.

And then she takes her time in walking towards him. Every step is calculated, as is every pause, every breath, and every moment of silence that passes between them. Upon reaching him, she leans toward him and places a hand upon his chest. He flinches a bit in response to the coldness of her palm. He lets out a sigh through his gritted teeth, sounding more like a hiss.
He grabs her wrist, grips it tightly.

“I am getting tired of this,” he tells her and pulls her close to him, his other hand finding the small of her back. She places her arms around his neck and moves to meet her lips with his. She tastes the slight flavour of danger in his lips. The urgency of his kiss was a telltale sign of the rage in his heart. Myoubi finds the taste intoxicating.

She feels the hand at the small of her back move upward, stopping just where cloth failed to cover skin. He breaks the kiss and looks at her face. And then, his hand grabs onto the edge of her garment, pulls once, impatiently, twice, as hard as Ryouko could. She hears the sound of her clothes ripping. It is then that she feels, she imagines, a pain from inside of her—bursting, ablaze, excruciatingly exquisite. She drowns in the intensity of the feeling.

Myoubi recovers her wits in time to find herself naked beneath him atop the bed that they now shared. The fog in her eyes clear in time for her to see the clouding of his. Ah, Myoubi thinks, the rage in his heart now breaks free. He crushes his lips against hers for the second time that night, and thrusts himself into her.

There, she imagines, is another pain. She thinks, as her scream pierces through the silence, this must be the pain that maidens fear in these moments. She wonders why she feels it only then.

Her moans echo only in her own ears, as Ryouko is too lost in himself. At that time, he is nothing more than an animal, and, Myoubi thinks, she is the same. She feels like she is losing herself a second time, due to the pleasure, the pain, the gratification in both. The rhythm intensifies, and she moves to meet his pace.

“Even in rage,” she tells him in between breaths, “your spirit still shines.”

She lets herself climax as he does.

He falls to lie on top of her, exhausted. She senses his regret.

“Shh,” she whispers to him, stroking his face with her fingertips, takes his regret into her, and breathes sleep into his eyes. She feels entirely drawn to him, even as he chooses to suffer by rejecting all that she has to offer. It does not matter, Myoubi reminds herself, and allows sleep to take her.

And then, some others I’ll need for Freiraum. Some attempts at getting to know the characters:

Title: Pan-ic
Day/Theme: September 21. Greece with its immortal glories
Series: Freiraum (Original)
Character/Pairing: Maya, Shimeya (ki-chan’s), Tsuki (ki-chan’s) (OCs)
Rating: G

Things were very much like Maya’s first time-traveling freak accident of an experience–unwanted, bothersome, and generally a large pain in the neck. At least she knew things weren’t supposed to be real this time (though she didn’t really know for sure, as it was her first time in the museum of sorts,) no future-altering events, nothing to fix, easy to get out of.

She hoped that at least the last one was true, but as usual, things didn’t go her way. The young thief had no idea how to operate the machine governing the virtual space, much less turn it off. She didn’t have any prior experience with it, and really had no intention of starting it up. It was just her bad luck to have been stuck with Shimeya (of all people) that day.

She groaned as she trudged through the virtual-forest in search of her missing companion.

Maya had no idea where or when she was supposed to be. She knew little of plants to be actually able to figure out her location based on the trees she saw (and wildlife would be as much help to her, if, anyway, she spotted any.) All she had to work on was the fact that she was next to naked (well, she did check a while back. She pulled her top an inch away from her body and saw breasts.) wearing some random white cloth and sandals. A shiver ran down her spine as she added another item to her hopes: Let this not be somewhere prehistoric.

“Shi-me-ya!” She called out, her irritation growing. The stuff around her felt real enough. She was beginning to itch in places where the shrubs and twigs touched as she passed. Maya wondered if people could also get hurt here.

“Come on out or I’ll leave you behind, oi!”

She received no reply. She heard only the rustling of leaves, the sound of a brook, the wind–and was that a flute of some sort? Just where the hell was this supposed to be? She stopped and surveyed her surroundings once more.

Maya sighed as she leaned against a nearby tree for support. She felt like she was getting tired. “How huge is this place anyway?” she said out loud, “I swear it was smaller than this.”

“I’m going to kick ice block’s ass for this,” she added, as if to console herself, though the memory of him asking her for this favor popped right back in her head. Really. She didn’t think she had this much kindness in her (but she didn’t really, she was going to hurt someone for this, anyway.)

She huffed. “Oi! Albino freak!” she shouted, “Come on out or I’ll–” and abruptly stopped as she heard a twig snap behind her. Another shiver ran down her spine (and not that anybody would have noticed, but she’d deny it anyway, she didn’t make a sound that was something like the cross of Hiii! and eeek!, no.) Her eyes instantly scanned the area for anything she could use as a weapon. Fortunately, for her, there was a fallen branch nearby that looked light and sturdy enough; it’d do for her.

She made a run for it, dived, grabbed the branch, rolled and stopped in a crouch to face whatever made the sound. She wouldn’t let anything get away with startling her then!

There was silence.

She was staring intently at the bushes when she spotted something furry. Two goatlike legs were walking towards her and as she looked up she saw a bright sunny smile that would have scared the living daylights out of her even on other circumstances.

“Oh! Maya!” Shimeya exclaimed.

“What’s with the hooves?” She asked, disgruntled.

Elsewhere, Tsuki was contentedly enjoying his meal. Alone.

–

Title: Not even the cracks in the wall can hide you
Day/Theme: September 22. between Cinderella or Kafka’s Cockroach
Series: Freiraum (Original)
Character/Pairing: Mitsuaki, Mari, Akiyo (ki-chan’s), Amaru, Etoile/Etwa (OCs)
Rating: G

One very astonished Kagami Mitsuaki was trying his hardest to move his legs fast enough to keep up with the pace of one very irritated Shimakage Mari (all the while trying to piece together the puzzle that was his failure at erasing the whole of his existence for less than a day.)

“I can’t begin to explain just how much I’m disappointed in you right now–”

“Er–”

“How could you even think of doing something like this?–”

“Well, Ah–”

“To your own mother, of all people?–”

“You don’t understa–”

“Of course I don’t! That’s just why I’m angry at you!”

“But I’m trying to expl–”

“I’m not asking that you explain! This was just so low of you!”

Mitsuaki figured that he’d have no chance to even try and explain himself to the angered female and decided then to stop trying.

“Well? Explain yourself!”

“Oh, man,” Kagami thought, “this is such a pain.”

At the speed with which the doctor and his female companion seemingly breezed through the busy crowd littering the streets that friday afternoon, Akiyo felt almost in awe of the feat. A part of him was fairly amused at how the doctor seemed to be experiencing the greatest disaster of his life (this he judged by how flustered the doctor looked, even the mask at the side of his head looked just as worried.) He let out a small “Hn,” to show his amusement.

The small bell that signaled the opening of the door to The Fragrant Leaf tea shop tore his attention away from the flowing crowd long enough to see the person emerging from within. It felt weird to Akiyo, there was little of the man’s features that meant enough for him to register in his memory. What he did note was that the man was accompanying this doll-child, and that he was carrying a box of pastries.

Akiyo considered the thought of bringing Ensui some pastries from that shop while his eyes went back to watching the crowds.

–

Title: If you wanted to win, you should’ve asked nicely instead
Day/Theme: September 22. between Cinderella or Kafka’s Cockroach
Series: pre-Freiraum (Original)
Character/Pairing: Drei, Vier, Neun (OCs)
Rating: PG (For drinking?)

[roughly 2200 hours; present]
Neun was generally a likable guy despite his very intimidating appearance. He towered over everyone and gave the general impression that he was not someone you’d want to mess with. It was a popular hearsay that he used to belong to some special military division of some sort–a band of ruthless soldiers who had little use for weapons. In fact, he probably could decimate quite a number of real tanks in seconds. Despite of this though, it was a relief for most people around him that he didn’t go about and made destroying objects (and/or people) his hobby.

The man obviously had his flaws, however. One was his pride, which was in direct proportion to his destructive capabilities, and second, the man had his vice. Mechanical vehicles required some sort of fuel to run, of course. It has been said that this tank’s fuel was alcohol. He could consume large quantities of it and still maintain his cool. Many of his peers believed that any sort of liquor was just like water to him.

Put one and two together, and you had a man who liked a challenge and a drink.

Which was why he felt even more depressed when he was pit against a female of all people (the drunkards regarded her with some sort of admiration and respect. Though all he knew was that she was a nurse, and treated everyone kindly, so he didn’t have much of an opinion on her) to a drinking match after having defeated one of the worst opponents he had ever faced.

“Are you sure about this, miss? I could just help you carry Vier to his room instead.”

“Oh, stop the formalities! It’s very out of place, especially here!”

“Ah, I’m really not comfortable with this–”

“Well, really–” Drei downed one shot and started pouring his share “Here! Your turn!”

“I’m not going to go easy on you, miss.”

“Yes, yes. That’s fine,” she smiled.

[roughly 0300 hours; next day]

Vier woke up in the middle of the night feeling like what was left of his body was just a painfully throbbing head. He didn’t know which was worse, the swirling image of his room when he opened his eyes or the swirling image of nothing when he closed them. Apart from the headache though, he could vaguely feel some pain emanating from his right jaw. He thought then that he’d surely try and feel his jaw if only he’d be able to find the rest of his body.

He groaned. What the heck happened after he passed out?

Drei was just about to sleep in the next room. She thought of how Vier would be having a bad hangover when he woke and how she could use the day to help him recover instead. Clinic duty would have to wait for a bit longer. She found sleep quickly afterwards and slept soundly.

[roughly 1000 hours; same]

A long queue (of very pathetic looking men) was waiting in front of the clinic in the morning. Neun was at the front of it.

–

Title: An unbearable likeness to migraines (Haha.)
Day/Theme: October 11. Take one and call me in the morning
Series: Freiraum (Original)
Character/Pairing: Maya, Mitsuaki, Tsuki, Shimeya (OCs)
Rating: G

“Who the hell–?”

Fox mask. “Kagami Mitsuaki, er–”

“–Again, who the hell?”

“Shimeya sent me?”

“Ah,” Mutter. “Fucking psycho.”

“So..”

“…”

“Tsuki’s sick, eh?”

“And?”

“I’m a doctor. Shimeya sent me to, well, check up on him.”

“He’s fine now. And asleep. I should know, I didn’t sleep before he did. It’s 3 o’clock in the morning now,” Mutter. “Really fucking psycho.”

“Ah, yeah, anyway, can I come in?”

“Have I mentioned that it’s 3 o’-fucking-clock in the morning?”

Scratch, scratch.

Irritation.

“I brought sleeping pills,”

“And?”

Cold mist.

“I can probably bring down the temperature in the room, probably, only if you let me in,”

Questioning look.

“Okay, okay, I guarantee it.”

Sold.

Arm reaching out. “Pills.”

“Oh, here,”

Sigh.

Entry.

End?

–

Title: Sorry, Try Again
Day/Theme: November 14. thieves in the temple
Series: Freiraum (Original)
Character/Pairing: Maya, Tsuki,
Rating: PG
Notes: Random crack that you shouldn’t probably read. Also, obviously stealing themes again. >_<

“You’re crazy,” grumbled Tsuki as he eyed the supposed ‘forbidden treasure.’

“Haa?” said Maya. She wasn’t really paying much attention to what he said. Her eyes focused upon the treasure with more than enough enthusiasm to make up for his lack of it. It was, to say, way too over the top in the boy’s standards. Ah, but, she’s as psycho as they go, anyway, he reminded himself.

“We should leave it alone, it’s obviously a trap,” he reasoned to her.

“What if it ain’t?”

“Which part of obvious isn’t clear to you?”

“What if s’all just mind games?!”

“Mind games?! Everything was too easy! Not to mention the damn thing’s unguarded!” Tsuki, by then, was pretty damn close to fuming; well, that, or foaming at the mouth.

“Exactly!”

“Exactly what?” Urge to destroy—rising.

“Everybody else ’s gonna think like you, so-” Maya responded, rubbing her chin as if in thought, “-it’s no trap.”

Tsuki then recited his most favorite mantra—every cuss word that he knew, in the span of a minute. Maya ignored him, as usual, and smiled cheerily back at him. The raging expletive struggled to catch his breath as she did so.

“Happy now?” she asked, smiling the smile which meant only bad things as far as Tsuki was concerned. “Now that you’re happy, you should go and open it!”

She said it like Tsuki should also be happy to open it.

“What? Why me? When did I agree to this?” Tsuki got his coherence back.

“Open it already—“ she ignored his questions.

“I’ve just said that it’s obviously a trap!”

“Don’t worry, that’s why I’m here!”

“Why don’t you just open it?”

“But that’s your job!”

“Who decided on that?”

“I did, of course!”

“Why the hell—?”

“Can you remove curses?”

“No.”

“There you go then?”

“If I lose any of my limbs, I’m taking yours!”

“Yeah, yeah, now shut it and get at it!” And with that, she sent him stumbling towards the chest with a kick to his rear end. Unable to stop himself in time, Tsuki managed to displace the lid of the container with a clumsy attempt at regaining his balance. Silence followed next.

All his fears seemed to be irrational. Nothing happened afterwards, no curses, no explosions, no guardians coming to life. He was almost ready to forgive Maya for forcing him into the mess he found himself in. Maya walked up proudly to the chest and withdrew its sole content. It was a small bottle crown.

“What the bloody hell is this?”

It read ‘Keep on trying!’ in the middle, and the rest of the characters were indecipherable.

“Huh?” Maya said.

And finally (for now, anyway)–

Title: Poke to get attention
Day/Theme: December 6/–Fool me thrice, shame on me
Series: Freiraum
Character/Pairing: Amaru/Aru, Etoile/Etwa, Mitsuaki/Ka-san
Rating: G

Currently, Amaru was reading another one of the books he had borrowed from the local library–which was probably one of those old history books again, from the time before the Memory of the World foundation built the MoW terminals–completely oblivious of everything around him, like how Etoile was standing in front of him and intently staring at his face, or how Mitsuaki was trying to mask his snickering with very loud slurps of his ramen.

So it came as a surprise to him when the child suddenly pressed her index finger to his forehead. It was enough to break the spell of the book on him.

“Hm?” He asked her, smiling.

Etoile shook her head in response.

He tilted his head to the side a bit, and blinked at her. She shook her head in response again. So accepting her answer, he offered the spot next to him on the couch with two small pats. She nodded and took her place beside him. Amaru took it as a cue to start reading again. He was nearly done with the commentaries on the development of Schion city.

Mitsuaki was now on his second bowl.

When everyone was silent again, Etoile decided to surprise him again with one finger of hers pressed to his forehead. Amaru had not even come close to giving the book his full attention again. There was something about that last gesture she made that distracted him.

“Okay,” he said. “Who taught you that?”

He said it out loud because he already knew who the culprit was.

Etoile blinked at him.

Mitsuaki coughed.